Balance adjusted wheel

ABSTRACT

To balance the wheel which is formed of a rolled plate. A wheel having a disk which is formed by dividing the rolled plate into plural at the rolling direction, wherein balance of wheel is adjusted by controlling the angle between the direction which goes to the thick part from the center of the disk and the direction of the air valve insertion hole, and the direction of the air valve insertion hole is certainly accord with the heaviest point by agreeing the direction of the air valve insertion hole with the direction of the thick part.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to a static balance adjusted wheel for a vehicle and the like, a method for manufacturing a static balance adjusted wheel, and a method for adjusting the balance of wheel.

[0003] 2. Prior Art

[0004] With the wheels (tire/wheel assembly) for vehicles and the like, balance in the circumferential direction of the rotation axis and in the direction of the rotation axis must be adjusted on the condition that tire and wheel are assembled together.

[0005] The condition in which balance in the circumferential direction of the rotation axis is not adjusted is called static unbalance, which causes vibration of the vehicle body in the vertical direction. The condition in which balance in the direction of the rotation axis is not adjusted is called dynamical unbalance, which causes vibration of the vehicle body in the vertical and lateral direction as well as steering shimmy.

[0006] A method described below was used as conventional methods for adjusting the balance of the tire/wheel assembly. With the conventional method, a wheel and a tire are assembled on agreeing the direction of the radial force variation (RFV), which is a part with high strength in the radial direction of a tire, with the direction of the low point, which is the location with smallest diameter in the peripheral direction of the wheel. Since the lightest point, which is the lightest direction among the peripheral direction of a tire, dose not agree with the heaviest point, which is the heaviest direction among the peripheral direction of a wheel, further balance weights must be attached to the wheel onto which a tire is assembled for balance the tire/wheel assembly.

[0007] For determining a location to which the balance weight is attached, the direction and amount of the unbalance of tire/wheel assembly is measured with an unbalance-measuring instrument. Depending on the measurement result, the balance weight, which will match with an unbalanced direction and an unbalanced amount of assembled tire/wheel assembly, is chosen, and it is attached to periphery of the wheel side face. Then, the balance of a tire/wheel assembly is adjusted by repeating the positioning of the balance weight and measurement of the unbalanced amount of a tire/wheel assembly until the unbalanced amount of the tire/wheel assembly turns into below the predetermined value.

[0008] At this balance adjusting operation, many processes and complicated works are needed, great number of processes are thus required for this balance adjusting operation. Furthermore, when the balance weight is attached to the outer surface of the wheel, the appearance of the wheel will be spoiled. Therefore, it is desirable that the size of the balance weight is as small as possible, and it is more desirable that the balance of the tire/wheel assembly is adjusted without attaching the balance weight, and it is further desirable that the location to which a balance weight is attached can be determined without measuring balance even if the balance weight must be attached.

[0009] With the wheel, since the heaviest point of the wheel tends to accord with the direction of the air valve, when assembling the tire onto the wheel, the location where the balance weight is attached may be determined on regarding the location of the air valve as marker. With the conventional wheels, however, the heaviest point is not necessarily accord with the located direction of an air valve. The location of the air valve thus could not be used as marker showing the heaviest point.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0010] It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide the balance adjusted wheel, and to improve the appearance of a wheel or to improve the assembly efficiency of a wheel and a tire.

[0011] In order to overcome above described problems, the peak of thickness, which exists near the center of the width direction of a rolled plate, is noticed. Then, the invention which can control the balance of wheel with ease by combining the deviation of the balance of the disk caused by the variation in the thickness of the rolled plate with the deviation of the balance caused by the weight of the air valve is invented.

[0012] According to the present invention which attains these and other objects, there is provided a wheel having a disk which is formed by dividing a rolled plate into plurality at the rolling direction, the wheel is characterized in that an air valve insertion hole is provided in the predetermined angle direction on the basis of the direction which goes a to thick part of the disk from the center of the disk.

[0013] With this invention, when the unbalance caused by the thick part and the unbalance caused by the air valve are expressed with vector from the center of the disk, respectively, the heaviest point of the wheel will be located in the direction which compounded those vectors. Balance of the wheel thus can be adjusted so that unbalance may be produced at the desired direction by setting the air valve insertion hole, into which the air valve is attached, at the suitable location.

[0014] Since the wheel in which unbalance has been produced towards the desired direction may be obtained, plural wheels from which unbalanced direction differs can be manufactured. Therefore, when assemble the tire with the wheel, select the wheel which has the same angle between the low point direction and the heaviest direction looked from the center of wheel as the angle between the RFV direction and the lightest point direction looked from the center of tire of the tire on assembling, unbalance of tire/wheel assembly is offset by the heaviest point and lightest point. The balance of tire/wheel assembly thus will be adjusted with minimum effort.

[0015] According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a wheel having a disk which is formed by dividing a rolled plate into plurality at the rolling direction, the wheel is characterized in that the direction which goes to a thick part of the disk from the center of the disk and the direction which goes to an air valve insertion hole are overlapped.

[0016] With another aspect of the present invention, since the direction of the thick part, which tend to become the heaviest point, looked from center of wheel and the direction of the air valve are overlapped, the direction in which the air valve is provided certainly serves as the heaviest point. The assembling operation of the tire/wheel assembly thus can be adjusted with ease by using the location of the air valve as marker showing the heaviest point.

[0017] According to the manufacturing method of the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a wheel in which a rolled plate is used, the method comprising the steps of: forming a disk from a divided part which is obtained by dividing the rolled plate; and engaging the disk to a rim in the condition that an air valve insertion hole is provided at the position where is shifted for a predetermined angle from the direction which goes to a thick part of the disk from the center of the disk.

[0018] With the present assembling method, when the unbalance caused by the thick part and the unbalance caused by the air valve are expressed with a vector which is extended from the center of the disk, respectively, the wheel in which the heaviest point thereof is positioned in the direction of vector obtained by combining each vectors can be manufactured. Therefore, the wheel having the desired balance can be manufactured by determining the predetermined angle of the location of the air valve insertion hole with respect to the the direction which goes to thick part of the disk from the center of the disk.

[0019] According to another manufacturing method of the present invention, there is provided A method for manufacturing the wheel in which a rolled plates are used, the method comprising the step of: forming a disk from a divided part which is obtained by dividing the rolled plate; and engaging the disk to a rim in the condition that the direction which goes to a thick part of the disk from the center of the disk and the direction which goes to an air valve insertion hole are overlapped.

[0020] With another assembling method, since the air valve is provided in the direction of thick part, which is the heavy direction of the disk, the wheel in which the direction of the air valve certainly serves as the heaviest point can be manufactured.

[0021] According to the method for adjusting the balance of a wheel, there is provided a method for adjusting the balance of a wheel which is formed by fixing a rim to a wheel obtained by dividing a rolled plate into plurality at the rolling direction, the method is characterized in that the rim is fixed to a disk in the condition that an air valve insertion hole is provided at the position where is shifted for a predetermined angle from the direction which goes to a thick part of the disk from the center of the disk.

[0022] With the present balance of wheel adjusting method, since the air valve can be provided in the direction, which shifted the degree of predetermined angle with respect to the thick part direction, from the center of a disk, the heaviest point of the wheel will be positioned in the direction of vector obtained by combining each vectors in the case that the unbalance caused by the thick part and the unbalance caused by the air valve are expressed with a vector from the center of the disk, respectively.

[0023] Here, joining may be performed by any method by which the rim and the disk can be joined without damaging the function of the wheel, and various known methods, for example, welding, brazing, bolting, adhesion by adhesive agent, etc., may be used.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024]FIG. 1A is an illustrating view explaining the blanking of the wheel from a rolled steel plate. FIG. 1B is a sectional view taking along X-X line of FIG. 1A.

[0025]FIG. 2 shows a production process of a wheel according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

[0026]FIG. 3 is a plane view showing the configuration of the disk raw material obtained by punching and cutting the blank.

[0027]FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a wheel according to the present invention.

[0028]FIG. 5 is a front view of the wheel according to the second aspect of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0029] The preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described by referring to the attached drawings.

[0030] The wheel according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention will be explained by referring to the FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a wheel according to the present invention.

[0031] As shown in FIG. 4, a wheel 1 is composed of a disk 2, which is bolted onto an unillustrated axle shaft and receives the driving force of the axle shaft, and a rim 3, onto the outer circumference of which a tire is fitted and the inner diameter part of which is welded and bonded to the disk 2.

[0032] The disk 2 is made by drawing a rolled steel plate into a cup-like shape, and on the cup-like disk surface 2 a is provided with a bolt insertion hole 21, through which bolts are inserted when fixing the disk 2 to an axle shaft, a ventilation hole 22, for cooling the brake that is positioned inside the wheel, and a center hole 23, for setting the center of the wheel. At a wall surface part 2 b of the cup-like shape, the shape of the raw material punched out from the rolled steel plate is left as it is so that the edge parts are protruded or recessed. The protruding parts among the edge parts of the wall surface part 2 b are a weld part 24, which is welded to the rim 3. Since the disk 2 is made of a rolled steel plate, the disk 2 has a thick portion in board thickness and a thin portion in board thickness. The thick portion in board thickness is called a thick part, and it is comparatively heavy. On the other hand, the thin portion in, board thickness is called a thin part, and it is comparatively light. With the disk 2, therefore, the unbalance of weight has arisen by the existence of the thin part and thick part. The difference in the thickness between the thick part and thin part is about 30-50 micrometers at the rolled steel plate which is used as the wheel of the vehicle and whose board has 2.6-3.2 mm in thickness. With the wheel 1 of FIG. 4, a notch 25 is provided in the thinnest part among the edge of the wall-surface part 2 b as marker of thin part.

[0033] The rim 3 has a substantially cylindrical shape and the outer circumferential surface thereof is arranged so that a tire can be mounted thereto. At the edge of the both sides of the rim 3, a rim flanges 31 are provided for preventing the mounted tire from falling off. At the part of the rim flange 31 located in the external surface side of the vehicle, an air valve insertion hole 32, into which the air valve for putting air into the tire is inserted, is provided. With the rim 3, the scattering among products is small and the static unbalance amount of the rim 3 is low in spite of large weight thereof. The side of the air valve insertion hole 32, however, tends to become heavier after assembling because the air valve is inserted into the air valve insertion hole 32. The wheel 1 is formed by welding the weld parts 24 of the disk 2 to the inner diameter parts of the rim 3 after fitting the disk 2 into the inner diameter of the rim 3.

[0034] Method for manufacturing the wheel according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention will be explained. FIG. 1A is an illustrating view explaining the blanking of the wheels from the rolled steel plate. FIG. 1B is a sectional view taking along X-X line of FIG. 1A With the wheel 1 of the present invention, since rolled plates, such as a rolled steel plate, are used as the raw material of the disk 2, the property of the rolled plate is employed efficiently. Any known type of rim thus may be used for the rim 3 as long as it can be fitted and bonded to the disk 2.

[0035] As shown in FIG. 1A, since the width of a raw rolled steel plate 50 is quite larger than the disk diameter of the wheel 1, two raw disk materials are generally obtained from the width direction of the raw rolled steel plate 50 by blanking. As shown in FIG. 1B, however, since the circumference part of the rolled steel plate tends to be lengthened at the time of rolling, as for the thickness of the rolled steel plate, near the center of the width direction is thick, and near the edge is thin.

[0036] When two raw disk materials are blanked from the raw rolled steel plate along with the manner shown in FIG. 1A, the thickness of one side, located near the center of the raw rolled steel plate is thick and the thickness of another side located near the edge of the width direction of the raw rolled steel plate is thin. The unbalance of weight thus will be arisen by these variations in thickness. This unbalance has been ignored until now, because it has been thought that there was very little unbalance in the wheel and that the adjustment of the balance of wheel must be done after a wheel is assembled with a tire.

[0037]FIG. 2 shows a production process of a wheel according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2 A, the raw rolled steel plate 50 is divided into several rolls, for example such as rolled steel plate rolls 51 and 51, depending on the size of the disk to be blanked as a raw material.

[0038] As shown in FIG. 2B, the blank 52 having practically square shape is obtained by cutting the rolled steel plate roll 51 according to the size of the raw material of the disk 2.

[0039]FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the configuration of a disk raw material 53 obtained by punching and cutting the blank 52. With this FIG. 3, transverse direction is the rolling direction of the rolled steel plate, and the upper part of this figure is a thin part in which the thickness of a rolled steel plate is thin, and the lower part of this figure is a thick part in which the thickness of the rolled steel plate is thick.

[0040] The disk raw material 53 is obtained by performing the following process. First, four corners of the blank 52 having the square shape are cut off in practically arcuate shape. Next, the blank 52 is punched so that the bolt insertion holes 21, the ventilation holes 22, and the center hole 23 are formed on the blank 52. Then, a notching 25 which is a mark showing the thin part is formed at the thin part side of the blank 52. The disk raw material 53 is thus obtained. The disk 2 shown in FIG. 4 is formed by drawing the raw disk material 53 into cup-like configuration. Formation of the bolt insertion holes 21, the ventilation holes 22, and the center hole 23 may be performed after drawing the disk raw material 53 into cup-like configuration. Moreover, the notching 25 used as the mark of the thin part may be formed at the thick part side as a marker showing the thick part.

[0041] As described above, any known type of rim may be used as the rim 3 as long as the air valve insertion hole 32 is formed on the rim flange 31, which is located in the external surface side of the vehicle.

[0042] The disk 2 is fitted and bonded to the rim 3 by welding the weld parts 24 of the disk 2 to the inner diameter parts of the rim 3 after fitting the disk 2 into the inner diameter of the rim 3. In this case, when the disk 2 is engaged into the rim 3 in the condition that the direction of the notching 25, looked from the center of the disk 2, is made into reverse with 180 degrees to the direction of the air valve insertion hole 32, the thick part and the air valve are positioned in the same direction.

[0043] The wheel 1 thus can be manufactured along with the above-described manner. With this wheel 1, the direction of the air valve becomes the heaviest point in the condition that the air valve is attached to the wheel 1, on making the direction of the thick part of the disk 2 and the direction of the air valve insertion hole 32 of rim 3 overlapped each other.

[0044] The location of the air valve is thus used as marker at the time of adjusting the balance of the tire/wheel assembly after assembling a tire with the wheel 1. Since the location of the air valve and the location of the heaviest point are overlapped each other, the location of the air valve can be used as the marker in the case of assembling. When the tire is assembled onto the wheel on the condition that the heaviest point of the wheel and the lightest point of the tire are overlapped each other, for making the mass of balance weight smaller, for example, the location of the air valve thus may be used as the marker.

[0045] Another preferred embodiment of the present invention win be described below. FIG. 5 is a front view of the wheel according to the another preferred embodiment of the present invention. With following explanation, the parts that are practically the same as those described as the first preferred embodiment shall be indicated with the same symbols and detailed description thereof shall be omitted.

[0046] With a wheel 70 according to another preferred embodiment of the invention, the rim 3 and the disk 2 are joined not in the condition that the thick part of the disk 2 and the air valve insertion hole 32 of the rim 3 are overlapped each other but in the condition that the air valve is located at the location where only the angle a shifted from the direction of the thick part.

[0047] With FIG. 5, vector v1 from the center of the disk 2 indicates the unbalance of the rim 3, which inclines in the direction of the air valve, and which is caused by the mounting of the air valve into the air valve insertion hole 32. Vector v2 from the center of the disk 2 indicates the unbalance of the disk 2, which inclines in the direction of the thick part. By the existence of these two unbalances, the unbalance, which is equivalent to the vector v3 obtained by compounding vectors v1 and v2, will be arisen as the wheel 1 whole. When engaging the disk 2 into rim 3 so that the direction of the thick part of the disk 2 and the direction of the air valve insertion hole 32 of the rim 3 may become a suitable angle, and then fix the disk 2 and the rim 3 each other by welding, the wheel having the desired unbalance thus can be manufactured.

[0048] When the wheel, which has the same angle between the low point direction and the heaviest point direction looked from the center of the wheel as the angle between the RFV direction and the lightest point direction of the tire, is chosen from the prepared plural wheels from which an angle α differs, for example every 10 degrees, and then assembling with the tire, the balance weight attached to the wheel for balance adjustment can be made smaller. Thus the appearance of the wheel may be improved.

[0049] The preferred embodiments of the present invention are described above. The present invention is not restricted to the above-described embodiments. It cannot be overemphasized that a design change is possible suitably in the scope of the meaning of invention. This invention is also not limited to the form of the above-mentioned implementation.

[0050] As an application of the present invention, for example, the another techniques such as the devices, which change the weight balance of the disk or rim, for adjusting the balance of tire/wheel assembly, may be combined with the present invention.

[0051] As described above, the following remarkable advantages may be obtained with the present invention.

[0052] With the present invention, since the wheels having the desired balance may be obtained by suitably combining the unbalance caused by the thick part of the disk with the unbalance caused by the air valve, the balance of the wheel may be adjusted by the minimum adjusting operations.

[0053] With another aspects of the present invention, since the direction of the air valve of the wheel serves as heavy point, the air valve is used as the marker showing the heavy point at the time of assembling the tire onto the wheel. Then the an improved efficiency of the balance weight attaching operations can be attained.

[0054] With the assembling method of the present invention, the wheel having the desired balance may be obtained by suitably assembling the unbalance caused by the thick part of the disk with the unbalance caused by the air valve.

[0055] With another assembling methods of the present invention, since the direction of the thick part which is the heaviest direction of the disk accord with the direction of the air valve, the wheel in which the direction of the air valve surely becomes the heaviest point may be obtained.

[0056] With the method for adjusting the balance of wheel, balance of the wheel may be adjusted by combining the unbalance of the disk with the unbalance of the air valve attached to the rim. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A wheel having a disk which is formed by dividing a rolled plate into plurality at the rolling direction, the wheel is characterized in that an air valve insertion hole is provided in the predetermined angle direction on the basis of the direction which goes a to thick part of the disk from the center of the disk.
 2. A wheel having a disk which is formed by dividing a rolled plate into plurality at the rolling direction, the wheel is characterized in that the direction which goes to a thick part of the disk from the center of the disk and the direction which goes to an air valve insertion hole are overlapped.
 3. A method for manufacturing a wheel in which a rolled plate is used, the method comprising the steps of: forming a disk from a divided part which is obtained by dividing the rolled plate; and engaging the disk to a rim in the condition that an air valve insertion hole is provided at the position where is shifted for a predetermined angle from the direction which goes to a thick part of the disk from the center of the disk.
 4. A method for manufacturing a wheel in which a rolled plate is used, the method comprising the step of: forming a disk from a divided part which is obtained by dividing the rolled plate; and engaging the disk to a rim in the condition that the direction which goes to a thick part of the disk from the center of the disk and the direction which goes to an air valve insertion hole are overlapped.
 5. A method for adjusting the balance of a wheel which is formed by fixing a rim to a wheel obtained by dividing a rolled plate into plurality at the rolling direction, the method is characterized in that the rim is fixed to a disk in the condition that an air valve insertion hole is provided at the position where is shifted for a predetermined angle from the direction which goes to a thick part of the disk from the center of the disk. 